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Canelo Alvarez has opened up on his put-down of Max Kellerman, 10 months after the Mexican fighter fired up fans with his response to the commentator.
At the press conference for Canelo’s fight with Terence Crawford, Kellerman lauded Dana White – who was promoting a major boxing event for the first time – for allegedly building the UFC into something bigger than boxing.
At the time, Kellerman said: “Dana White is the greatest combat-sports promoter in my lifetime. He built an institution. You know why boxing is not as popular as it used to be anymore, right? UFC is really popular. That’s because of Dana White. He built something like the NBA.”
Canelo Alvarez (right) and Max Kellerman at the weigh-in for the Mexican's fight with Terence Crawford (Getty)
Fans in Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena booed Kellerman at this point, to which he said: “Stop now, because he’s about to do it again, for boxing now. You want an NBA or an NFL for boxing? Here it comes.”
Canelo, 36, took issue with this comment, telling Kellerman: “Hey Max, boxing is always [getting] bigger and bigger and bigger. Don’t say boxing is not big enough. Boxing is big, you know how big boxing is.”
Two days later, the Mexican lost his undisputed super-middleweight titles to Crawford at Allegiant Stadium, as the American star won on points to stay unbeaten – and make history as the sport’s first three-weight undisputed champion.
Now Canelo has clarified his feelings towards Kellerman, saying he felt the need to counter the commentator “because he said UFC is more than boxing. [I said it] not because of Dana White or whatever – because I respect Dana White, he knows.”
Canelo told journalist Ariel Helwani: “[I said it] because he started saying, ‘Right now UFC is much better than boxing,’ which it’s not. It’s not, and that’s what I said to him.
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“Don’t say... don’t lie to the people, because boxing is boxing; that’s why the UFC fighters want to come and fight in a boxing match.
“So [it was] just that, but I don’t want to disrespect anybody. I’m always gonna defend my sport, because boxing is No 1.”
Moments before giving this particular answer, Canelo had said: “I like everybody, and I’ve been working with everybody, and I’m friends with all, so I don’t want to...”
Crawford beat Canelo on points to become a three-weight undisputed champion (Getty)
After the fight in September, 38-year-old Crawford retired from competition, while Canelo underwent surgery on his elbow.
Canelo will face Christian Mbili on 31 October, revealing the new date on Wednesday, after the pair were initially scheduled to clash in September.
They will square off in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Mbili defends the WBC super-middleweight title, which he was awarded after Crawford retired. Mbili was interim champion before Crawford called time on his career.